Lifestyle

The control freaks come for the bottled water

It started with a very local issue in the Southern Highlands where Bundanoon residents got the hump with their own water being trucked back with a 300x markup.

But now the tired recurring voices of rigid social control here in Canberra (particularly on 666 this morning) are calling for the ACT to follow the lead.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that people who make a habit of buying bottled water are indeed idiots. By which I mean the daily brigade.

But it’s a fashion thing, and the fashion has come from countries where the tap water is not as good as ours is (most of the time).

So yes, the vast millions spent on bottled water do seem poorly allocated, but have you seen what people spend on other junk they don’t really need?

Bottled water, as opposed to $600 handbags even has some pretty important benefits to society. You don’t need a lot of gray hair to remember the last time metropolitan drinking supplies were unsafe here in Australia.

IIRC back in 2003 here in Canberra we were being advised not to drink our tap water immediately after the fires.

At no cost to the taxpayer the bottled water industry provides an emergency drinking water supply (a pretty *good thing* TM to most people surely). It also provides, again at no cost to anyone but bottled water buyers, the infrastructure to quickly and efficiently deliver water as needed to where it’s needed.

So by all means choose to drink tap water from a re-usable bottle. I do it myself. But until we shut down every super market (all the transport! all the packaging!), let’s not lose our heads over the bottled water industry just because of a puritan streak inside many of us (myself included) disliking followers of fashion.

Especially when those followers of fashion are funding a very useful emergency amenity.

(As for whether the ACT PS should buy bottled water for its staff? Seriously, you don’t have anything bigger to worry about?)

Is it just me or are jim jones and FC more about insulting people about their opinions that stating facts.. just a thought…

And just one point… what if you do bring water from home and drink it all but there is no where to refill? do we all get admitted to hopital from dehydration and make our emergency waiting times longer? also what if you weren’t at home the night before????

oh ffs.

Suddenly society ceased to function before the advent of bottled water in the late 20th century.

Bottled water killed the bubbler. Vandals didn’t destroy bubblers till the bottled water came in. maybe they thought it was a waste of money to maintain the bubblers?

1. Anything and everything should be legal and allowed unless there is a good reason otherwise.

2. I have yet to see a good reason to ban bottled water:

2a. Saving people from themsleves is self righteous bullshit. In a capitalist democratic society all resources are used efficiently according to each person’s personal preference. To suggest anything else is tyranny and hubris of the worst kind.

2b. Saving the environment (in this case) is similarly bullshit. Banning bottled water will not have any measureable effect on any environmental measure you chose to mention.

2c. The fact there are alternatives is not a reason to remove something.

Is it just me or are jim jones and FC more about insulting people about their opinions that stating facts.. just a thought…

And just one point… what if you do bring water from home and drink it all but there is no where to refill? do we all get admitted to hopital from dehydration and make our emergency waiting times longer? also what if you weren’t at home the night before????

oh ffs. Suddenly society ceased to function before the advent of bottled water in the late 20th century.

I’m not taking it as a personal attack, just something that makes life unnecessarily difficult when other more harmful culprits are overlooked and ignored.

Nobody has addressed why health-robbing beverages in identical packaging should not be targeted in favour of something that is both life-giving and health-building.

Hell, why not go back to using washboards because it’s better for the environment? How selfish of me to complain that this might make life more difficult! But I’ll get used to it, right?

In relation to FC, the fact is somebody who has no clue what it’s like to walk a mile in my shoes is telling me I’ll get used to an added burden that I really don’t want or need. So basically I’m feeling a whole lot less warm and fuzzy towards them right now.

People’s blind faith in administrators to consider issues of accessibility and equity frankly amazes me, and shows a paucity of experience in the circumstances.

Is it just me or are jim jones and FC more about insulting people about their opinions that stating facts.. just a thought…

And just one point… what if you do bring water from home and drink it all but there is no where to refill? do we all get admitted to hopital from dehydration and make our emergency waiting times longer? also what if you weren’t at home the night before????

Perhaps you should consider the fact that those who are criticising the amount of bottled water that is sold are interested in reducing the negative environmental impact and preventing consumers from wasting lots of money (on a product which has a standard commercial markup of 4000%) rather than taking it as being some sort of personal attack on you. It’s not. As much as I think that you’re awesome, not everything is about you.

Granny – I got what you were saying. I am sure that all the issues would be addressed and solved if a ban were to seriosly be considered.

I would support a ban or some type of restriction MORE than I would support a lot of the people here’s poor excuses for why there shouldn’t be a ban.

I am struggling to think of how a person with a disability would be able to purchase a bottle of water, pay for that item and open/drink it, but then wouldn’t be able to use a tap or a fountain to fill up a water bottle.

I also imagine that for the few people it was really effect negatively (apart from just adjusting to change) there would be mechanisms in place for them.

Maybe the ban would only be for 600ml bottles of water and one could still buy larger ones. Who knows. I doubt it would be a decsiion that would be taken lightly, without all angles being looked at.

But I really don’t think it would be the catastrophe it is being made out to be. people would adjust and get on with life.

Granny said, “FC, I hardly ever buy bottled water, but when I do I need it and I want it and I sure as hell want the option not to buy drinks loaded with sugar, if that is ok with you? ”
Granny, do what you like. I missed my post where I have said I wish to impose such a ban?

FC, I can only do what I like if some idiot doesn’t ban it.

All I am saying is that just because something doesn’t impact negatively on you doesn’t mean it doesn’t negatively impact on the lives of others such as Igglepiggle, Szeretta’s mother and myself. Let alone accessibility issues with bubblers for people with a disability.

Why on earth would you want to give them encouragement in this and strengthen any perception that it has community support?

My 2c – don’t buy it ever for myself but if they took it away I would have a lot of cranky friends. Would at least want to have chilled taps for refilling everywhere. Plus access to empty bottles for those who didn’t bring them.. Too much hassle!

I also had bad thoughts of the aqua-lung, blame my conspiracy thinking. Even that’s a little far out for me but it popped in anyhow.. *shrugs shoulders*

You know how really awful dodgy water is not quite clear and produces some bubbles? My Canberra water is doing just that. I’m going to take an empty bottle to work tomorrow and fill up with filtered water. Anyone else getting dodgy water through the taps in the last few days? Seriously, it looks like semi-treated water.

is it clear? does it have a brown / green / horrible tinge to it? no? canberra water is far superior to any other in australia, barring the snow fields. try to drink water from adelaide, or kyneton springs in vic. (kyneton spring water is heavy with sulfur out of the spring, they purify it before bottling)

wonder how people would go having to drink tank water with a tannin tinge to it?